Serbia men's national basketball team


The Serbia national basketball team represents Serbia in international basketball competition and is controlled by the Basketball Federation of Serbia. Serbia is currently ranked sixth in the FIBA World Rankings.
From 1992 to 2003, the national team played under name of FR Yugoslavia and from 2003 to 2006 under name of Serbia and Montenegro in international competitions. Following the Montenegrin declaration of independence in 2006, Basketball Federation of Serbia retained the place of Basketball Federation of Serbia and Montenegro as a FIBA member. Therefore, all the results and medals from this period are succeeded by the Serbian national basketball team.

History

Serbia and Montenegro

1992–1995: Breakup of SFR Yugoslavia

With the start of Yugoslav Wars in 1991 and subsequent breakup of Yugoslavia, the mighty team of Yugoslavia was disbanded, which had the players selected from the population of over 23 million people and basketball infrastructure evenly distributed among the six states which formed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
In 1992, FR Yugoslavia was established, as the federation of two remaining Yugoslav republics Serbia and Montenegro. A newly established country had less than half the population of former country. The Basketball Federation of FR Yugoslavia became the governing body of basketball in a new country. After the adoption of UNSCR 757, the national team was suspended from participating in international tournaments. Due to these sanctions and ongoing war, the national team was prevented from participating at the 1992 Summer Olympics, EuroBasket 1993 and 1994 FIBA World Cup.

1995–2003: Golden generation

Without much sponsorship of war-impoverished country, the national team made its comeback to the international scene at the EuroBasket 1995 in Greece, where it won the gold medal after defeating Lithuania in the final game. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, the team lost with 69–95 to the United States in the gold-medal game. Then, the national team won the gold medal at the EuroBasket 1997, 1998 FIBA World Cup, the bronze medal at the EuroBasket 1999 and then once again gold medal at the EuroBasket 2001.
One of the most notable wins for the Yugoslavian national team came in the quarter-finals of the 2002 FIBA World Cup, when the host nation of the tournament, the United States, was eliminated. The significance of the win was tremendous for the Serbian people in general, as the public in Serbia perceived the United States political leadership responsible for the breakup of Yugoslavia, and destruction of the country's infrastructure, and civil victims during the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. After that, the Yugoslavian national team won the tournament by defeating New Zealand in the semi-finals and Argentina after an OT win in the gold-medal game.

2003–2006: Disappointments

In 2002, FR Yugoslavia that consisted of states Serbia and Montenegro came to a new agreement regarding continued co-operation, which, among other changes, promised the end of the name Yugoslavia. On 4 February 2003, the federal assembly of Yugoslavia created a loose state union—the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. The following years were underwhelming as the national team failed to make the podium of the tournament, after decades of winning medals.
At the EuroBasket 2003 it came in 6th place, but due to the world champion status, qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece. However, it was eliminated in the group stage with a 1–4 record, finishing in 11th place. The national team participated in the less important Diamond Ball tournament in 2004, where they won the gold medal.
After two consecutive tournament disappointments, hopes of getting back on the podium came back at the EuroBasket 2005 were Serbia and Montenegro was a host nation. Also, the legendary Željko Obradović became the national team head coach again. However, they were surprisingly eliminated in the play-off stage by France with a 74-71 loss and finished in 9th place. Obradović stepped down shortly after the tournament and blamed the bad atmosphere among the team star players for yet another failure. The national team participated at the 2006 FIBA World Cup on a wild card due to the results in the past, on the initiative by FIBA prominent administrator Borislav Stanković. But, once again the national team of Serbia and Montenegro came up short, failing to impress finishing in 9th place.
On 21 May 2006, Montenegrins voted in an independence referendum, with 55.5% supporting independence. The subsequent Montenegrin proclamation of independence in June 2006 and the Serbian proclamation of independence on 5 June ended the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and thus the last remaining vestiges of the former Yugoslavia.

Serbia

Following the dissolution of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro, the national team participated at the EuroBasket 2007 and finished the competition in the group stage with three close losses. Also, they failed to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics, missing the Olympics for the first time after being suspended at the 1992 Summer Olympics.
In December 2007, legendary Dušan Ivković hinted that he will take the seat of national team head coach.

2009–2014: Flashes of old glory

Under Ivković' coaching, a new generation of players led by Nenad Krstić and Miloš Teodosić returned some of the old glory by taking the silver medal at Eurobasket 2009. At the 2010 FIBA World Cup, after narrowly defeating Croatia in the Round of 16, Teodosić hit deep three-point shot to sink favorite Spain. In the semifinals it lost after controversial referee's error to tournament's host Turkey with 83–82. With the youngest team in the tournament, the national team eventually finished in fourth place after losing to Lithuania with 99–88 in bronze-medal game.
At the EuroBasket 2011, the national team failed to reach the semifinals finishing the tournament in eighth place and thus way failing to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics. At the EuroBasket 2013, it was once again stopped in the quarterfinals and finished in seventh place.

2014–present: Silver generation

Following the EuroBasket 2013, Ivković stepped away from the position and Serbian basketball hall of famer Aleksandar Đorđević stepped in his place.
Đorđević led the team to the silver medal at the 2014 FIBA World Cup, where they lost in the final game to the United States. At the EuroBasket 2015, the national team finished in fourth place with the only tournament loses coming in the semifinals to Lithuania and in bronze-medal game to France.
After winning the 2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament held in Belgrade, the national team won the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, losing in the final game to the superior team of the United States.
With the absence of team's captain Miloš Teodosić and rising star Nikola Jokić, Bogdan Bogdanović emerged as a team leader at the EuroBasket 2017. The national team won its third silver medal in four years after losing to Goran Dragić-led Slovenia with 93–85 in the Final.
Facing an different qualification system introduced by FIBA for the 2019 FIBA World Cup, the national team was forced to play without its key and most important players in nearly all the qualification matches. However, they narrowly secured the last spot for the World Cup in their second round qualification group. Before the World Cup, the national team of Serbia was dubbed as favorite to win the trophy, but was eventually upset in the quarterfinals by Argentina. With wins over the United States and Czech Republic, they finished in fifth place. At the end of the tournament, head coach Đorđević announced his decision to leave the position after six years.

Honours

Medals table

Competitions

Name of the nation during the tournaments:

Olympic Games

EuroBasket

Team

Current roster

Depth chart

Depth chart 2021 (notable players)

Past rosters

  • EuroBasket 1995
  • EuroBasket 1997
  • EuroBasket 1999
  • EuroBasket 2001
  • EuroBasket 2003
  • EuroBasket 2005
  • EuroBasket 2007
  • EuroBasket 2009
  • EuroBasket 2011
  • EuroBasket 2013
  • EuroBasket 2015
  • EuroBasket 2017
  • 1998 FIBA World Cup
  • 2002 FIBA World Cup
  • 2006 FIBA World Cup
  • 2010 FIBA World Cup
  • 2014 FIBA World Cup
  • 2019 FIBA World Cup
  • 1996 Summer Olympics
  • 2000 Summer Olympics
  • 2004 Summer Olympics
  • 2016 Summer Olympics

    Head coaches

Since 1992, the national team was managed by a total of eight different head coaches. Dušan Ivković and Željko Obradović are the only coaches with more than one spell.
;FR Yugoslavia
YearsCoachCompetition
1992–1995 Dušan Ivković1995 EuroBasket
1996–2000 Željko Obradović



6th		1996 Summer Olympics
1997 EuroBasket
1998 World Cup
1999 EuroBasket
2000 Summer Olympics
2000–2002 Svetislav Pešić
2001 EuroBasket
2002 World Cup

;Serbia and Montenegro
YearsCoachCompetition
2003 Duško Vujošević6th2003 EuroBasket
2004–2005 Željko Obradović11th
9th		2004 Summer Olympics
2005 EuroBasket
2006 Dragan Šakota11th2006 World Cup

Serbia

Player statistics

These tables include player statistics on Olympic games, FIBA World Cup and FIBA Eurobasket matches since 1995.
  • Bold denotes players still playing international basketball.

    Most capped players

Top scorers

Notable players

Multiple medal winners

This is a list of people who have won two or more medals, who represented FR Yugoslavia / Serbia and Montenegro or Serbia since 1995.
PlayerCareerGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1995–2005
7
1995–2005
7
1995–2001
6
1995–2005
4
1995–1998
4
1995–1998
4
1995–2002
4
1997–1999
4
1995–2000
4
1996–1999
4
1995–1997
3
1999–2007
3
1999–2003
3
2001–2007
2
2000–2006
2
1995–2003
2
1995–19962
1998–20002
1999–20012
2007–2016
3
'2007–
3
'2013–
3
'2009–
3
2013–2016
3
'2014–
3
'2014–
3
'2009–
3
'2009–
2
2005–2014
2
'2013–
2
2014–
2

International competitions

  • FIBA World Cup MVP
  • * Dejan Bodiroga – 1998
  • FIBA World Cup All-Tournament Team
  • * Dejan Bodiroga – 1998
  • * Željko Rebrača – 1998
  • * Peja Stojaković – 2002
  • * Miloš Teodosić – 2010, 2014
  • * Bogdan Bogdanović – 2019
  • FIBA World Cup Top Scorer – by total points
  • * Bogdan Bogdanović – 2019
  • EuroBasket MVP
  • * Aleksandar Đorđević – 1997
  • * Peja Stojaković – 2001
  • EuroBasket All-Tournament Team
  • * Vlade Divac – 1995
  • * Aleksandar Đorđević – 1997
  • * Željko Rebrača – 1997
  • * Dejan Bodiroga – 1997, 1999
  • * Peja Stojaković – 2001
  • * Miloš Teodosić – 2009
  • * Bogdan Bogdanović – 2017
  • EuroBasket Assists Leader
  • * Miloš Teodosić – 2009, 2011

    Other notable achievements

  • FIBA Hall of Fame
  • * Vlade Divac
  • Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
  • * Vlade Divac
  • Euroscar
  • * Peja Stojaković – 2001
  • * Miloš Teodosić – 2016
  • Mr. Europa
  • * Aleksandar Đorđević – 1994, 1995
  • * Predrag Danilović – 1998
  • * Peja Stojaković – 2001, 2002
  • FIBA Europe Men's Player of the Year Award
  • * Miloš Teodosić – 2010
  • All-NBA First Team
  • * Nikola Jokić – 2019
  • All-NBA Second Team
  • * Peja Stojaković - 2004
  • NBA All-Stars
  • * Vlade Divac – 2001
  • * Peja Stojaković – 2002, 2003, 2004
  • * Nikola Jokić – 2019, 2020
  • NBA champion
  • * Darko Miličić – 2004
  • * Peja Stojaković – 2011
  • * Ognjen Kuzmić – 2015
  • NBA 3-Point Shootout champion
  • * Peja Stojaković - 2002, 2003
  • EuroLeague MVP
  • * Miloš Teodosić – 2010
  • * Nemanja Bjelica – 2015
  • EuroLeague Final Four MVP
  • * Žarko Paspalj – 1994
  • * Zoran Savić – 1998
  • * Željko Rebrača – 2000
  • * Dejan Bodiroga – 2002, 2003
  • EuroLeague Top Scorer
  • * Predrag Danilović – 1995
  • * Peja Stojaković – 1998
  • * Miloš Vujanić – 2003
  • * Igor Rakočević – 2007, 2009, 2011
  • EuroLeague Basketball All-Decade Team
  • * Dejan Bodiroga - 2010
  • * Bogdan Bogdanović - 2020
  • * Miloš Teodosić - 2020
  • 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors
  • * Vlade Divac
  • * Aleksandar Đorđević
  • * Predrag Danilović
  • * Dejan Bodiroga

    Notable coaches

Individual achievements

  • FIBA Hall of Fame
  • * Dušan Ivković
  • * Zoran Slavnić
  • NBA All-Star Game
  • * Igor Kokoškov – 2004
  • NBA–winning assistant coach
  • * Igor Kokoškov – 2004
  • EuroLeague Basketball Legend Award
  • * Dušan Ivković
  • 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors
  • * Dušan Ivković
  • * Željko Obradović
  • Alexander Gomelsky EuroLeague Coach of the Year
  • * Željko Obradović – 2007, 2011, 2017
  • * Duško Vujošević - 2009
  • * Dušan Ivković – 2012
  • EuroLeague-winning head coach
  • * Željko Obradović – 1992, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2017
  • * Dušan Ivković – 1997, 2012
  • * Svetislav Pešić – 2003
  • Triple Crown
  • * Željko Obradović – 1992, 2007
  • * Dušan Ivković – 1997
  • * Svetislav Pešić – 2003